The Muse Within
by Nya Sol
Summary: This dagger. It was the same one that I held in the dream. It was the last puzzle piece of a frustrating mystery. If I had my Mystery Boy facing me with a concerned look on his face, and the murder weapon, staring back innocently in the form of a charm bracelet, did that mean that the dream was going to play itself out? Was I going to kill Nico di Angelo?
1. Prologue: If I Die

**This is my first multi-chapter story. I'm sorry the prologue is so short, but it'll get longer. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson.**

* * *

**Prologue: If I Died**

_I __had just a stabbed a person. _

_He stood before me in black attire, face white with shock but I couldn't make out all of his features behind __my__ tears. A bloody wound stood out on his white shirt and the blood matched the dark, almost black, liquid covering the bronze blade of my dagger. _

Betrayer_, the thoughts in my head whispered, but they weren't mine. _You just stabbed the one you claimed to love.

_I looked away from him, nearly stumbling back and over the cliff. My stomach was sick with betrayal and guilt._

_When I looked back at him, his__ dark eyes were__ no longer warm brown, but cold __chips of obsidian in the night. "L—La—" he coughed, blood dribbling down his chin and onto his shirt. Was he going to say a name? Was he going to say _my_ name? _"Why?"

_ I cried a noise half-sob, half-hiccup. "I'm s—sorry. I'm s—so sorry." I rambled as __i__f__ someone else was controlling my actions, feeding__ words to my mouth. "I d—didn't w—want it to end like t—this."__ T__ears strea__med__ down my face. "I l—love you, but—"_

_ His eyes darkened. "N—no, it's my f—fault." He choked out each word as if __they__ w__ere__ killing him. "I s—should have s—seen this c—coming. Such a s—shame y—you're so weak." He shook his head. "__I c—could have given you e—everything, you k—know. We w—would have ruled the w—world. You would have been my q—queen." He sighed, a wicked smirk twisting his lips. "W—well, then. 'Till d—death do us p—part'. Unfortunately, it c—came too e—early."_

_I was wondering what he meant when h__e grabbed me by my shoulders and shoved hard._


	2. Chapter 1: The Night Things Changed

**Hi guys! I know that you were looking forward for Chapter 2, but I kinda, sorta, maybe got writer's block *sheepish grin*. I know right? Writer's block on the second chapter? So, I decided to change the plot a bit. Instead of just going to Camp Half-Blood, Lana has been at camp for seven years and she's unclaimed. The first chapter is almost the same as the old one, but the rest is all new. Enjoy!**

**July 29, 2012: I'm such an idiot. I was practicing piano when I suddenly realized that I forgot the disclaimer on this, 'cause see, I had it on Chapter 1 Take 1, but then I rewrote this and I forgot to add the disclaimer. So here: I don't own anything but Lana Vega and Noelle Knox.**

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**Chapter 1: The Night Things Changed**

I was five when my mother died.

It all happened so quickly: she had left for another one of her "night-shifts" (what a lie) as a nurse, and then she never came back. I still remember being woken up by my Aunt Alyce, my mom's twin sister, a few nights later. She led me down the stairs, her eyes red but not crying, to the open door where Uncle Charlie was standing along with two policemen. They had taken off their caps, looking unhappy and so… sympathetic. They told me that they had found my mother's body washed up at the beach. That she had died.

I hadn't thought much of it that night, my half-asleep brain not processing their words. The next day though, when I woke up by myself and not by my mother's cheerful "Rise and shine, Lana! The sun is up and it's time to start a new day", it became painfully obvious.

My mother was gone.

Sometime later that week, I found myself at Camp Half-Blood when my aunt drove me all the way across the country to dump me here. It was my birthday that day; I turned six. I met Chiron, who explained all the "the myths are not really myths" what-not, and they stuck me in the Hermes cabin, where everybody forgot about me.

They never did figure out what happened to my mom. Most authorities said that she jumped off the cliff, though some believed it was foul play. One particularly stupid PI claimed that the wind had pushed her off (yes, because a breeze can push a one-hundred-pounds-or-so woman off a cliff).

I wish I could say that I got over my mom's death, but I never did. For seven years, I'd thought that it was my fault. That my mom committed suicide because she was ashamed of me, because I made her tired of living.

Little did I know that my mother had really dug her own grave (literally). That she ruined her life and mine, even though she tried to make it better in the end and sacrificed herself along the way. Little did I know that because of my mother's deadly fatal flaw, I would be dragged into a dangerous power struggle that the Fates know I might not survive.

My name is Lana Vega, and I wish my life was normal.

* * *

Every cabin at camp had a special skill, a trait that distinguished them from the rest of the cabins. The Ares kids were amazing fighters, not to mention they had a wide knowledge of weaponry. The Aphrodite campers were pretty. That was about it. The Apollo campers were known for their horrible poems and amazing choice of songs.

But what would they do, you ask, if they lost their "special skill"?

Well, I guess the Ares cabin would try to play it cool. Find a new hobby maybe (Can you imagine the big buff Ares kids trying knit a sweater?)

The Aphrodite campers would lock themselves in their Barbie dollhouse and cry themselves to sleep every night. The brave ones would probably try to step out under the sun, maybe accessorized with a brown paper bag over their heads, latest in fashion. Especially if they have x-out eyes and Sharpie zits.

And what about the Apollo cabin?

Well…

"What's up with them?" I asked my best friend Noelle over breakfast.

She shrugged, spearing a piece of bacon with her fork. "I don't know. They've been this way ever since Tuesday."

The Apollo campers were usually loud and cheerful, but today they were huddled around each other whispering quietly. They usually rivaled the Aphrodite cabin in the looks department, coming close if not outright beating them, yet today they had dark circles under their eyes and their hair was completely mussed up. One girl that sat at the table held a pencil in one hand, an eraser in the other, and a guitar in her lap. She would write something down on paper, strum a few chords and sing, and then she erased it after a few minutes. It went on for a while, and she looked closer and closer to tears as the minutes passed.

"I think that they were trying to write something, but couldn't come up with anything." Noelle continued, twirling a strand of black hair around her finger.

I frowned. The children of Apollo had not only inherited their father's amazing archery abilities, but his ability to write things off the top of their head. Being able to create songs, poetry (though they weren't any good), and the occasional plays all came with being Apollo's kid.

"They're usually so good at writing stuff." I said.

"I know, but ever since Tuesday… but hey, everybody loses their muse once in a while." She shrugged. "It's no big deal; they're probably just going through some sort of phase, and they'll be up and writing before you know it."

I nodded, even though I found it weird. Nothing like this had ever happened before, where one of the cabins lost their "special skill"; the Ares cabin didn't forget how to fight, the Aphrodite campers didn't just become ugly, so how could the Apollo children just lose their ability to create?

* * *

"Come on, Lana!" Connor cheered from where he stood to the side (probably so he wouldn't get hit if the sword flew from my hands. Again). "You can do this!"

I glared at him. The first time he yelled that had been encouraging, touching even. To cheer for the opponent fighting against your brother, your best friend? But by now, the eighty-ninth time, it was getting a _little _more that annoying.

"Shut up Connor." I said through gritted teeth, digging my heels into the ground. My palms were coated with sweat, making it hard to hold onto the hilt of the sword. I was surprised that I hadn't dropped it already and impaled my foot or something. This was probably the longest that I had ever lasted in a sword-fight, even if it was only against Travis; I never lasted this long. It meant that I had either suddenly gained superpowers from the eggs and sausage I had for breakfast this morning, or Travis was totally going easy on me.

I _thought _that the sausages tasted a little spicy…

"Five minutes!" Connor shouted with glee. "You've lasted for five minutes now Lana!"

At that, the corner of Travis' mouth turned up into a smirk. He gave a shove with his sword, and mine was knocked out of my hand. I stumbled back, landing on my butt from the force of his push.

That was the tenth time today. My butt was getting a little numb.

"Aw..." Connor groaned. His eyes lowered to the stop-watch in his hand. "Six minutes and thirty-two seconds."

"Not bad." Travis extended his hand and I took it, pulling myself from the ground. Man, my butt was really going to hurt tomorrow.

"I don't like swords." I grumbled, kicking the weapon away. "You know that. So why do you make me do this?"

"Because you suck with every other weapon, Lana!" Connor said happily, handing me a towel and slinging and arm around my neck despite the fact that I'm dripping in sweat. "I mean, you can barely pick up a javelin let alone throw it, the Apollo cabin doesn't trust you within five feet of a bow or an arrow, and you have no aim so you can't use a spear—"

"I get it, I get it!" I held up a hand for him to stop. "I can't use a weapon. But it's not like I'm going to have to use one anyways. I mean, I'm never going to leave camp and I stay far, _far _away from the forests and the monsters. The most danger I was ever in was that time I let go of the sword and almost impaled myself."

"It's weird though." Travis said thoughtfully. "Every demigod has some level of expertise with weapons. Even the youngest Aphrodite camper can wield a knife or something, but you…" he trailed off.

I scowled. "I said _I get it_. I suck. I'm not a hero. I would die the first second I step out of camp. Stop reminding me of it, okay?" I shrugged Connor's hand off of my shoulder and shook the towel out, just in case they hid itching powder on it.

"That's not what we mean—" Connor protested, but I interrupted him.

"Isn't it?"

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence. "Look, Capture the Flag's tomorrow." Travis said, and it didn't escape my knowledge that he was blatantly trying to change the subject. "We're on the Blue Team with Aphrodite, Demeter, Hephaestus, Dionysus, Hebe, and Hypnos. We're against Athena, Ares, Apollo, Nemesis, Hecate, and Poseidon. Any idea how we can win?"

I sighed inwardly. This was like a tradition now, something I did every Thursday since the day I arrived at camp. "No," I said in a fake chipper voice. "But if anyone can come up with it, it's the Stolls!"

Travis nodded, as if he believed my fake words. "That's what I thought too." he said with a cocky smile, and then he clapped me on my back. "Take a nap, okay? We'll cover for you. We need you in perfect shape for the game tomorrow."

* * *

_Falling__. __I was falling._


	3. Chapter 2: A Beautiful Chocolate Brown

**Hey guys! Here's Chapter 2. This is where the amazing Nico di Angelo shows up. By the way, I'm going on a trip on the 11th, and coming back on the 1st. School starts on the 4th, so I won't fit an update in, and I'm not sure if there are computers where I'm going, so I might not update for a while. It doesn't mean I'm dead, nor did I stop the story, and I'll try to upload Chapter 3 as soon as I can.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson. I only own Lana Vega and Noelle Knox.**

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**Chapter 2: A Beautiful Chocolate Brown**

**Capture **the Flag was like the prom for demigods. I mean, you had the popular kids that everyone wanted as their date; we had the Children of the Big Three that everyone wanted on their team. You had the prom committee that was basically in charge of everything; we had the Ares and Athena cabin that was the foundation of every game. You had the mischievous troublemakers that spiked the punch; we had the Hermes cabin that put itching powder on the armors.

You had the losers that would rather stay at home with a movie and two men—Ben and Jerry—than with bad music and a nerd; we had… well, me.

Yep. I hated Capture the Flag.

Unfortunately, it was mandatory every Friday night, which is probably why I found myself at an all-cabin "emergency meeting". We sat in the back of Cabin 11 facing a whiteboard (probably stolen) while Travis scribbled what looked like random circles and arrows on the board and his brother stood to the side with a yardstick. Both wore matching blue bandanas around their heads (also stolen).

"Alright Hermes cabin!" Connor announced as soon as Travis finished writing. "Now, you all know that tonight is Capture the Flag! As you can tell from our bandanas—which totally aren't stolen from the Aphrodite cabin—we are on the Blue Team!"

Travis continued from there. "On our team, we have us, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Demeter, Dionysus, Hebe, and Hypnos. We're playing against Athena, Ares, Apollo, Poseidon, Nemesis, and Hecate. As you can see, tonight, Athena and Ares will be on the same team."

"It'll be hard to win with both war gods on the same team. But with the amazing wit of the Stoll brothers," they paused to fist-bump. "We came up with an almost fool proof plan to win!"

The key word was "almost".

"Tonight, we will be playing offence along with Dionysus and Hephaestus." Travis spoke as Connor pointed to various things on the whiteboard with his yardstick. "Hebe will be scout, and Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hypnos will be defense. The strategy tonight will be to strike the flag at different times in different groups; to wear down the defense around the flag until we get it.

"Of course, we're playing against the Athena cabin, so we have to be ready for any tricks they have tonight." Travis added hastily at the end of his speech.

"But hey, we're the Hermes cabin! We're great at—almost—anything!" exclaimed Connor. "What could go wrong?"

I sighed inwardly. Everything went wrong when you said that.

* * *

**The **first thing that went wrong came at dinner.

I was sandwiched between the two Stoll brothers, who were pigging out on their fourth or fifth cheeseburgers—"Hey, this is an important night. We have to eat like champions if we want to be champions"—while I was playing with my salad.

Usually, I sat with Noelle, but my best friend seemed to have disappeared after free time. I didn't really worry about her safety (she was armed with her set of celestial bronze throwing stars) but it was getting late, and despite her thin physique, she never missed a dinner. Or a lunch. Or a—well, you get what I mean.

"Where do you think she is?" I wondered out loud, cutting off Connor's badly told joke.

Travis glanced up from his burger, looking startled. "Who? Noelle?"

"Where is she?" I repeated. "She would never miss a meal."

As if to answer my questions, a shrill shriek cut through the night, and in ran Noelle, her pale complexion even more ashen. "I didn't mean to trip over him!" she howled, stopping in front of a perplexed Chiron.

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down child. Now, tell us what happened."

Noelle looked extremely frightened. In fact, the only other time I had ever seen her like this was when the Stolls thought it would be amusing to stick her on the lava climbing wall, left to her own devices. Plus, Noelle was deathly afraid of heights. So what scared her so much? "W—well, I was walking around the forest for free time, and I really, _really_ wasn't watching where I was going, a—and so I tripped over this body… At first, I thought he was dead, but then he groaned a—and he told me to get help, so I ran here as fast as I could. And here I am."

"Who was it?"

Noelle whispered something in Chiron's ear, followed by a meek "Do you think he'll kill me? For tripping over him?"

The centaur's features relaxed into a calm smile. "Do not worry child; I am sure he will not harm you." He then turned to the Apollo table, where a tall boy stood up. "Now, Miss Knox, please lead Mr. Solace to where you left him." Noelle nodded curtly before running out of the pavilion, the Apollo kid on her tail.

By now, anxious murmurs had grown louder and louder. Someone yelled "Well, who was it?"

Chiron turned to face the rest of the camp. "Nico di Angelo is back."

* * *

**I** finally understood the reason for Noelle's fear. Nico di Angelo was the son of Hades, and despite being only thirteen, he had almost singlehandedly turned the tide of the Second Olympian War when he convinced his father to help us fight. He was the only demigod that travelled in and out of camp whenever he pleased, because hey; who would dare to defy the Ghost King?

And if that title alone wasn't enough to scare the heck out of campers, many (scary) rumors revolved around him, though I doubted that any of them had any truth to them. Was he the one that left that scar in the middle of the pavilion? Did he really kill a Kindly One with nothing but a shoe (and if so, what kind of shoe was it)?

As you can see, Noelle had plenty to be afraid of, tripping over him like that.

The entire pavilion was abuzz with gossip and chatter when Noelle got back. The Aphrodite girls were doing most of the gossiping, squealing everything they said in a high octave. I caught the words "Underworld" and "girdle" and "amphisbaena" before my eardrums threatened to shatter and I had to focus on a lower pitched conversation.

"Man, this is bad." Connor grounded out through gritted teeth.

"What?" Noelle asked in a soft voice, still somewhat shaken up. "What's bad?"

"Nico's appearance." Travis replied, his face set in a grimace similar to his brother's. "I mean, don't get me wrong, we love that guy, but did he have to come back _tonight_?"

"What's wrong with tonight?" I impaled a piece of lettuce and brought it to its death in my mouth.

"Tonight's Capture the Flag!" Connor said in a "duh" voice. "Nico's _obviously_ going to side with the Red Team because of Annabeth and Percy. Wait," he leaned forward, talking to Noelle. "How bad were his injuries?"

"Well I thought they were pretty bad," Noelle said, a slight tremble running through her voice. "He was only half-conscious and there was blood everywhere, but Will gave him some ambrosia, poured nectar over his wounds and just told him to rest. Nico was pretty adamant about being in the game tonight though. Will told him that he needed sleep, and I don't know who would win in an argument between them."

"Let's cross our fingers," muttered Travis. "That Will has better will than Nico, and manages to keep him in bed."

"That sounded _so _wrong." Connor grinned, and that ended our conversation.

* * *

**Unfortunately**, the goddess of luck was against us tonight, because a triumphant-looking Nico had stood next to a worried-looking Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, as Chiron told us the rules. "Now, as you all must know by now, the entire forest is fair game. The creek is the boundary line. The flag must be displayed, and can have no more than two guards. All magical items are allowed. No killing or maiming is allowed, and the breaking of this rule will result in loss of dessert for a week. Guards aren't allowed to stand—or sleep—within ten feet of the flag, so I suggest you find another spot for your naps, Cabin Fifteen." The Hypnos campers groaned— or at least the ones awake did.

"Alright. Let the games begin!" Chiron yelled, quickly trotting out of the way as demigods threw themselves into battle. The Stolls made me carry around my practice sword, even though I could barely fight with it. I did proudly knock down a dark-haired Apollo girl with the flat of my blade before she could reach for another arrow in her quiver though.

And then I ran like Hades was behind me, hoping that I was fast enough so she couldn't shoot me.

When I stopped, I leaned against one of the many trees, trying to catch my breath.

"Boo." Someone whispered in my left ear, making me start. I did _not_ scream like a little Aphrodite girl though.

"Was that _you_ that just screamed?" Noelle asked while giggling, looking absolutely delighted at having scared me.

"Shut up." I scowled at her, feeling my cheeks heat up. "At least _I_ didn't run into the pavilion shrieking like a harpy after tripping over the son of Hades."

Noelle elbowed me playfully before getting down to business. "Alright, there's a little clearing up ahead and I think that the flag is there."

"Why?" I whispered back, beginning to walk forward.

She winked at me. "I may or may not have overheard a certain daughter of Athena."

I chuckled, shaking my head.

When we were a few feet away from the clearing Noelle was talking about, I could see that the Red flag was there indeed. But what was surprising was that there were no guards guarding the flag. Nope, not even one. This had to be a trap; even the cockiest, most arrogant camper wouldn't leave the flag unguarded

I poked Noelle, who was frowning at the clearing too. "I'll climb that tree," I said in a low voice, pointing to a tall oak tree with thick leaves that would hide me well, but still allow me to see the flag. "And you go up to the flag. See if there are any traps."

She rolled her eyes. "Hey, why am I playing bait?"

"If you want to climb the tree, be my guest."

Noelle sighed. "Sometimes, I think I hate you." She walked towards the flag slowly.

Unlike my best friend, who balked at the sight of anything taller than six feet, I was an amazing tree climber. Within seconds, I was sitting on a tree branch thick enough to support my weight. It gave me an amazing view of the clearing, but it was low enough so I could jump off and make an escape if I needed to.

I watched as Noelle nervously inched towards the flag. One of her hands sat on her hip, where I knew that a belt holding her throwing stars was.

When she was just a few inches away from the red flag, her free hand reached out and her fingertips barely touched the pole when—

"Hey. Aren't you the girl that tripped over me?"

Noelle jumped as a boy wearing a black attire literally melted out of the shadows. She instantly paled, and I sighed. Here was their guard.

"H—h—h—hi. I—I'm N—Noelle." She stuttered.

"Nice to meet you Noelle. I'm guessing that you're here for the flag?" He walked over to it, making Noelle stumble backwards.

"Yes?" Her statement sounded like a question.

He grinned, and drew his sword from his sheath.

It was nothing I had ever seen before, three feet of wicked black blade. Definitely not celestial bronze, and that didn't leave many other options to what it could be.

But either way, I would hate to be Noelle right now.

The battle instincts had kicked in for my best friend and she crouched in a defensive position while holding a ninja star in either hands. Unlike Nico's sword, they were made out of celestial bronze, and all four points were sharpened to the max.

Yet despite her lethal aim, Noelle would obviously lose in a battle with Nico. I hate to sing his praises, but Nico was the powerful son of Hades, and Noelle was just an unclaimed girl. I doubted that he would actually hurt her, but dude; this guy killed a Kindly One with a _shoe_. I had to stop the battle before she got hurt.

I looked around, and my gaze landed on a squirrel eating an acorn. A light bulb lit up over my head. I reached out a hand, trying to keep my balance, and my fingers grasped a rather large acorn, about the size of a small rock. The plan was to throw it down at Nico and distract him long enough for Noelle to attack, or for her to grab the flag and get out of there (that is, hoping that Noelle wouldn't be distracted by the acorn too).

Unfortunately, my aim wasn't half as good as Noelle's. I threw the big acorn as hard as I could and watched as it landed…

But not before hitting Nico's forehead.

My eyes widened, and a gasp escaped my lips.

"Ouch!" Nico's hand flew to his forehead. "What in Hades' name was that?"

Noelle's mouth gaped open. She had thrown a star the same time I threw my acorn, and she must have thought that _she_ hit Nico. "Oh my gods, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hit you—"

"No, you didn't hit me." He reached down and picked up the guilty acorn. "_This_ thing hit me." He looked up and his eyes scanned the treetops. I held my breath as his stare passed over me and let it out when he turned around, his back to me. He raised an arm to throw the acorn.

I cocked my head to the side, watching him carefully. He must have known that the acorn came from my relative area, since it hit his forehead, not his back, and yet he was throwing it the other way. What was he doing?

At the last second though, Nico had turned back quickly and threw the acorn. I watched in horror as the nut sped towards my face. Thankfully, I managed to dodge the nut, but I lost my balance and landed on the ground. Hard.

"Oof!" The breath was knocked out of me.

"Oh my gods, _Lana_!" Noelle cried, flying to my side. "Are you okay?"

"Lana?" Nico asked, his eyebrows furrowing. "Lana _Vega_?"

"Yeah," I said, getting up slowly. Between falling on my butt multiple times during practice yesterday and tumbling off that tree, I was surprised that it wasn't broken or something. Can you have a broken butt? "How do you know my name?"

Maybe it was just my imagination, but Nico's cheeks tinted pink. "I—I must have heard it somewhere. Did you throw that acorn at me?" He demanded, trying to change the subject.

"Hey, you were going to kill my best friend. I had to do something."

"I'm glad you have so much faith in my fighting skills, Lana." Noelle said drily.

"So you threw an _acorn_ at my head?" Nico ignored Noelle.

"Actually, I was aiming for your feet or something, just to distract you, you know? Plus it was the only thing I had. Unless you wanted me to throw my practice sword. Speaking of which," I turned around in a circle. "Where's my sword?"

Noelle rolled her eyes. "Did you lose it _again_?"

"I'm sure it's here _somewhere_." I muttered, walking around looking for my sword. I must have dropped it somewhere in between hitting that girl on the head and climbing the tree. Noelle followed my lead, pacing the area around the flag. But unlike me, her hand shot out and she grabbed the metal pole of the flag, taking off with it.

Nico, whose eyes had started to glaze over watching us look for my vanished sword, immediately jumped to action, sprinting after her, but he was too late. Noelle had gotten a good head start on him, and she _could_ beat the dryads at footraces, not like her best friend (As soon as I figure out how to remember to tie my laces before the race, I _will_ beat the dryads).

I followed after them, laughing in delight.

"Hey!" Nico called. "That's unfair!" But Noelle just turned around and stuck her tongue out at him, before leaping gracefully over the creek.

We did it! We won! That would show those smug Ares and Athena campers, who had sneered at us all week.

A crowd had already gathered by the boundary line, but the wrong team was celebrating. The Apollo campers were singing "We Are the Champions!" at the top of their lungs, and the Ares cabin had hoisted the tall son of Apollo on their shoulders. Will Solace; that was his name. He was the one that had healed Nico.

He held the Blue flag firmly in one hand, grinning from ear-to-ear as the Ares cabin carried him out of the forest.

Later that night, I found Connor and Travis sulking by the campfire. They cast dark looks at whoever came within their line of vision: Annabeth Chase, Clarisse La Rue of the Ares cabin, even Pollux, son of Dionysus, who was on our team.

"Come on guys. It was just a game."

They turned their scowls to me. "Just a game? _Just a game!_" Connor turned to his brother. "She thinks it's just a game!"

Travis nodded gravelly. "It was _not_ just a game. Our _pride_ was compromised tonight!

"Hey, where were you during the game anyways?" Connor asked. "We lost track of you after the game started."

"I hope you weren't taking a nap like Clovis," Travis added, his eyes narrowing at the boy in question. Clovis, head of the Hypnos cabin, had made a rare appearance. Despite the loud volume of the songs we were supposed to be singing, his head was lolled to the side, and he snored away.

I rolled my eyes. "Funny you should ask. I was actually at the site of the Red flag with Noelle."

That made Travis frown even more. "Well, we would have been there too if Clovis hadn't decided to take a nap right in front of us, making us trip over him." He said defensively.

"And then we bumped our heads on a tree because that dryad hates us." Connor continued.

"I knew we shouldn't have hid our stash of centaur blood in her tree." Travis finished, ruefully shaking his head.

I sighed when I saw no way to win that argument. Instead, I turned to Noelle, who watched the golden flames with an odd expression on her face.

I nudged her. "What's up with that face?"

She started, and then a blush crept onto her face. "Oh nothing," she said in a light voice.

I stiffened. I knew that voice. That was the voice that she had used when she told me "He's so cute," while pointing to Percy Jackson, savior of Olympus. She used the same voice to say, "I think he winked at me!" after giggling madly and ogling Austin from the Apollo cabin, who I'm pretty sure was just blinking dust from his eyes.

I had been free from Boy-Crazy Noelle for a few months now, but it seemed as though she was back. I followed her eyes to…

Oh no.

"Oh Noelle, not _him_."

"What's wrong with him?" Her eyes gleamed. "He's fine. In fact, he's more than fine. He's tall, strong, powerful, hot…"

I tilted my head to the side and eyed Nico di Angelo. I didn't see any of the things she had listed, but then again, I never saw any of the things she saw in a boy.

I knew that in a few days, she would forget about her crush on him and move onto another boy. Or if I was lucky, Boy-Crazy Noelle would disappear for a while, leaving me with happy, cheerful, _sane_ Noelle.

"Noelle, you tripped over him. You though that he was going to kill you. He killed a _Fury_ with a _shoe_."

"I know," she said with a dreamy sigh. "But his _eyes_…"

I looked back to Nico. I didn't see anything different with his eyes.

"They were really dark in the forest, remember? Almost black-ish? But now, in the light of the campfire, they're brown. A beautiful chocolate brown." She sighed again.

I really didn't appreciate her comparing the son of Hades' eyes to my most favorite thing in the world, but then I realized that I had more important things to worry about.

Black eyes that turned to warm brown?

Why did Nico di Angelo have the same eyes as the boy in my dreams?


	4. Chapter 3: Winds of Change

**Bleh, this chapter was bad. I didn't like it. But Lana gets claimed here! I didn't outright say who it was though, so message me if you don't know who it is. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson. I only own Lana and Noelle.**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Winds of Change**

_**For **__the first time in days, I didn't have the usual cliff dreams. No stabbing guys in black attire, no being pushed off a cliff. Instead, I was crouching behind a large stone in a fully-furnished black cave. There was a bed, a red couch... Even a TV, though I couldn't fathom how you could get service in here. I could hear screams somewhere in the background, and… was that a dog?_

_ "Did you get it done?" A voice asked brusquely. It was a woman's voice, coming from near the couch, where the top of a black-haired head peeked out. I couldn't see her face, or who she was talking to though._

_ "Yes, my lady." A raspy voice replied. "We have gotten her as you wished." A white sheet was pulled off of a large, bronze cage that I hadn't noticed before. A teenage girl was in the cage, about fifteen or so. She had curly black hair, and a star clip held her bangs away from her face. Her eyes were dark blue, which matched her chiton, and she held a globe in her left hand. With her right, she held the cage bars so tightly her knuckles turned white._

_ "Good. Good. And who is next?"_

_ "We have decided to take Melpomene next, my lady."_

_ "You won't get away with this." The girl finally spoke. She was talking to the dark-haired woman, but she stared at me. "Someone will notice our disappearance, and they will send heroes to save us."_

_ "Ha! Heroes to save _you?_ Oh please! You and your sisters are worthless. And besides, if they _do_ send heroes after you, we will have had enough time to take all nine of you. This will teach that pesky little sun god not to mess with my lord!" The girl's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to protest, but the woman kept talking. "My lord," and her words had a bitter undertone. "Why do you not trust me? Have I not faithfully carried out your orders? Have I not faithfully stood with you?" There was a pause. "But no; still, you trust that… that _mortal. _Up until the moment she betrays you. But I will be different. I will follow you to the end of the Earth, 'till the end of time. And you, you will help me serve my lord, no?"_

_ "Yes my lady. We stand behind you and the lord."_

_ "Good. Good."_

* * *

"**Hey **Noelle?" I asked while we were brushing our teeth that morning.

She spat froth into the sink. "What?"

"Say you had these weird dreams," I told her, not sure which weird dream I was talking about. "And you think that it's demigod weird. What would you do?"

Noelle frowned at my reflection, running a brush through her dark hair. "I would probably go ask Rachel, the Oracle. See if she can figure out what the dreams mean. Why? Did you have a demigod dream?"

I didn't answer, instead pulling my hair up into a ponytail.

Demigod dreams were not normal. And no, I don't mean the "Justin-Bieber-dancing-with-the-Easter-Bunny-while-Lady-Gaga plays-the-spoons" not normal. I mean being able to see real events in your dreams, sometimes things in the past, sometimes things in the future. Omens, warnings, the likes. Maybe you'll see the Stolls trying to TP your cabin. Or maybe you'll see some evil monster that's planning your demise because it wants to eat you.

You just never know with demigod dreams.

I didn't know whether the cliff scenes and the cave dream were figments of my subconscious, or whether somewhere in the world, they were actually happening. I also didn't know whether they were happening right now, or whether they happened a millennia ago, or if they were going to happen eighty years from now, when I would probably be safe in my grave.

Stupid dreams. Why couldn't I have _normal_ dreams?

Oh right. Because I wasn't normal.

* * *

**I **decided to pay a visit to Rachel during breakfast.

Rachel Dare was the only mortal that lived at camp. When she had first arrived, I remembered being a little envious of her. Not because she was the Oracle who saw the future and sprouted prophecies. Not because she was pretty with curly red hair and serpent green eyes, but because she was mortal. Because she had a family that loved her, that cared about her, that didn't ditch her somewhere as soon as her mother died.

_Stop_. _Don't think about that_.

Anyways, Rachel had her own room in the Big House, and she lived there during the summer when she came to camp. I wasn't sure which of the rooms was hers (I had only visited the Big House once, when I first arrived at camp), but I soon realized that it was the colorful, paint-splattered one with the words "Rachel Elizabeth Dare" written in gold glitter, and "Oracle" underneath it in black Sharpie. The door was open, showing Rachel as she worked on a picture. Her back was to me, but I could partly see the canvas she was working on. She had sketched a portrait of a guy with charcoal, though the features were hard to make out. He strongly resembled Nico though.

I knocked twice on the doorway, startling the artist.

"Oh hello!" she said, turning around. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there. Come in, make yourself comfortable." I took a seat on her aqua bed. "Now, what can I help you with?"

"Well, you see…" I spoke slowly, not sure how to go on with this. In fact, I was starting to regret coming here. "I had this weird dream, but I'm not sure if it was a demigod dream or just a normal dream." Again, I had no idea which dream I was talking about.

Rachel nodded. "Could you describe the dream?"

I opened my mouth, the details of the cliff dream on the tip of my tongue. After all, this was the dream that I've had the most, and it came to me all in order, like a story. This was the dream that I should have been inquiring about.

But something stopped me. Everything in that dream—walking to the rendezvous beach, meeting the mystery boy, stabbing him and falling off the cliff—had felt so personal that I hadn't even shared it with Noelle. And now I was ready to blab it to a complete stranger?

The painting caught my eye again. From here, I could see it a little better. It scared me how much he looked like my mystery boy, so when Rachel waved a hand in front of my face asking "Hello there? Anybody home?", I made up my mind and told her about my other dream.

"I was crouching behind this large rock in a cave. It seemed like somebody's home, because there was this bed, and this couch, and even this TV in it. There was also this cage, with this teenage girl inside of it. She had curly black hair, dark blue eyes, and she wore a dark blue chiton, and she held a globe in one hand. I could hear the sounds of screaming in the background, and there were two people talking, but I couldn't see their faces."

"Could you describe their voices?"

I nodded. "One of them was a woman, I'm sure of that. The other was more… gender-neutral, but their voice was really raspy. The woman asked about getting something done, to which the second voice replied that they had gotten 'her'. And the woman asked 'Who's next?', and I… I forget their name, but I think it started with an M. Melpome, maybe? Something along those lines. And then the girl in the cage said something about 'Not getting away with it...' Something about a hero saving them. Then the woman laughed and said that no heroes would save her. Something about a lord… something about a mortal… something about faithfully, and the dream ended with the woman saying, 'Good. Good.' And that's all I can remember."

Rachel's eyebrows had drew together while I talked. "I see. And did this dream seem realistic?"

"I don't know. Like I said before, I don't know if this is just something my subconscious conjured up, or whether this is a demigod dream." I paused, and then added. "Do _you _know?"

Rachel sighed, and looked at her painting. "I'm not sure. I have a few of the puzzle pieces, but not enough to complete the full picture. But if I find out anything, you'll be the first to know, okay?" she smiled, making me feel bad about not telling her everything. I smiled back and stood up to leave.

"Oh wait!" she cried out when I was at the door. "Silly me, I didn't even ask for your name."

"It's Lana. I'm Lana Vega."

And just like that, Rachel stiffened as if she had been shocked. Her eyes glowed green, and her mouth opened, but no words came out. Finally, the glow went away, but Rachel still sat there, watching me with piercing green eyes.

"Elana Vega," Rachel finally said, and even though her voice was normal, I swore that the spirit of the Oracle was talking. "Cherish these last days of normalcy. The winds of change are blowing and darkness is approaching."

* * *

**"Where **were you?" were Noelle's first words when I finally arrived at the arena, where our first activity of the day, wrestling, was taking place.

Noelle always sat on the sidelines during wrestling because after an accident involving her ninja stars, a poor son of Aphrodite, and his constant whining in the infirmary, the Apollo children convinced Clarisse that hand-to-hand battles were just not Noelle's thing, and that she should just stick to long-distance attacks.

"I took your advice and visited Rachel." I said in a low voice while eyeing the buff daughter of Ares. Slowly, I took a seat on the bleachers next to Noelle, hoping that Clarisse wouldn't notice my coming in. Luckily, she was busy yelling at Chris Rodriguez, her poor boyfriend, because apparently, he was too weak and couldn't keep his grip on his opponent, and something about a ten-week Ares program that improved strength, endurance, and aim. I felt bad for Chris, but thanks to him, maybe I wouldn't have to wrestle today.

Noelle's eyebrows shot up. "You did? So you had a demigod dream?" I shrugged. "Well tell me about it!" That last part was a little too loud, but thankfully Clarisse was still focused on bettering her boyfriend.

"It was nothing," I lied. "Some woman talking in this cave. Something about a 'Melpome'. Something about a lord, something about a mortal. And then I think I saw Justin Bieber dancing with a bunny too. Wait a second, was that before or after the talking?"

That last part was a lie, of course, but Noelle was fooled. "Maybe it started out as a demigod dream, and then it turned into a normal dream."

I pretended to agree, when in reality, I was feeling bad for lying to my best friend. I used to be able to tell her everything. She was all that made up my surrogate family.

Maybe Rachel was right. Maybe things really were changing.

And by the looks of it, it wasn't changing for the better.

* * *

**Change **arrived faster than I would've liked: I was claimed that night.

Even though I desperately wanted to be claimed, over the years, the hope of finding out who my father was had slowly diminished, along with the hope of finding a family, of finding somewhere I belonged. I had been at camp for seven years, _seven freakin' years_, and he never gave me a sign, or a hint, or _anything_. I was ready to just face the fact that I was never going to be claimed and prepare to spend the rest of my life in Cabin 11 with Noelle and the Stolls. I had even kind of convinced myself that living with the Stolls forever (until they moved out or whatever) wasn't actually that bad (which took a _lot _of skill, trust me). Even though I had to keep all of my belongings in a metal drawer. With ten locks on it. And a fingerprint checker.

Not _that _bad.

But then I was claimed.

If I knew that I was going to be claimed tonight, I would have skipped dinner. But there was ice cream for dessert, and nothing tempted me more than ice cream. Except for Pepsi maybe. Or chocolate. Ooh, I love chocolate.

Anyways, there I sat, peacefully eating my chocolate ice cream with extra hot fudge and sprinkles when everybody stopped talking. I glanced up from my bowl. People were staring at me.

… Maybe I had hot fudge on my nose?

But then Noelle poked me. "Lana, I think you're being claimed!" She whispered, pointing at something over my head. I looked at what she was pointing at: a bright orb of light that faded into a hologram of a sun with an eyeball in the middle of it.

This was it! I was finally being claimed!

I had dreamed enough about this day to know what should have happened: Chiron should have smiled with pride and stood and said, "Hail Elana Helen Vega, daughter of insert-your-choice-of-god-here." Everybody would have bowed, and I would have been the happiest girl in the world that day.

But that's not what happened. No, it was far from what happened.

Everybody started whispering, trying to figure out who my father was. Chiron apparently knew, because he paled significantly. And then Mr. D gave the confused campers a hint; he looked up from his wine magazine to see what the commotion was about, and then his bloodshot eyes zeroed in on the hologram over my head. "Oh goody," he said, his voice dripping of sarcasm. "A Titan's spawn."

A silence fell over the campers in the pavilion again, and everyone gaped at me.

My blood ran cold. _A Titan's spawn?_

I looked to Chiron for assurance. No, I wasn't the daughter of a Titan. I must be a daughter of… of Apollo, or—

"Elana Helen Vega," Chiron said, eyes weary. "Come with me."


	5. Chapter 4: The Light is Lost

**Hey guys! The good news is that there _is_ a computer with working internet where I'm staying, but the bad news is that I'll be out a lot, so I don't know how many updates I can fit in between. Maybe I can upload Chapter 5 before school starts, if people want me to *hint hint*. Oh, and there isn't a spell check on the computer I wrote this on, so if you find any mistakes, please let me know. Thanks, and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I only own Lana, Noelle, and the dark-haired Apollo girl who will soon have a bigger role.**

* * *

**Chapter 4: The Light is Lost**

**When **you're about to die, you think about the life you've lived. You think about the people you've left behind.

You do not, however, think about chocolate ice cream with extra hot fudge and sprinkles.

That was the only thing I could think about, though, as I sat by myself on an uncomfortable wooden stool in the Rec Room, where the head counselors held their meetings.

If there hadn't been chocolate ice cream for dessert tonight, I probably wouldn't have showed up for dinner, instead spending it trying to break my fastest time on the lava wall, or coming up with a plan to get back at the Stolls for the hot sauce they put on my lunch.

But there _had_ been ice cream, so instead of sweet, sweet revenge, I got claimed as a demititan in full view of every camper, which led to Chiron wordlessly leading me to the Rec Room. He told me to take a seat, and then he left the room.

So here we are.

I was debating whether or not to leave (maybe I could run away, even though the chances of me surviving in the big, bad world were low) when the door swung open, and the centaur came back in.

With a line of twenty of the toughest campers behind him.

I was _so _dead.

Chiron told them the same thing he told me, and everyone in the room sat down. It didn't escape my notice that everybody was sitting on the opposite side of the table, across from me and near the door. Chiron sat at the head of the table, the closest person to me. Though I'm not sure whether or not he technically counted as "people".

"Now, as you all know, Miss Vega was claimed tonight. The unfortunate news is that she was claimed by Hyperion, Titan of Light and Lord of the East, therefore making her a demititan." I cringed at his words. "We have gathered here to discuss whether or not to keep Miss Vega in the camp, as this is a summer camp for demigods, not demititans."

I just stopped myself from rolling my eyes. Why discuss it? They might as well kick me to the curb now; who would want a _demititan_ around?

Clarisse seemed to share my thoughts. "Why should we keep her? She's just a runt, and she doesn't even have a godly parent."

Annabeth bit her bottom lip. "It doesn't make sense though; Lana has been at camp for a little more than seven years now. If the gods thought that she was a threat, they wouldn't have let her stay at camp, _right_?"

Murmurs of agreement went around the room.

"So?" Drew Tanaka, counselor of the Aphrodite cabin, sniffed. "Maybe the gods didn't know. That certainly doesn't mean that she can't come out at night and kill us all, now that she knows she's a Titan's spawn. Or worse—she could steal all of my pink eyeliner!" She gasped, despite the eye-rolls of the kids sitting around her.

_Oh yes, Drew. The first thing that I'm going to go after, now that I know I'm actually an evil demititan, is your pink eyeliner._ I wondered if she had noticed that I didn't wear any makeup.

Percy, son of Poseidon, rolled his eyes. "I think that your eyeliner is safe, Drew."

"Annabeth does make a point though." Nico added, steering us away from the topic of Drew's makeup. "Lana's been here for seven years, so the gods must have picked up something. They wouldn't have kept her around unless she was harmless—or the subject of an important prophecy."

I quickly glanced up at him before casting my gaze down to my beat-up sneakers again. I couldn't tell if he was trying to help keep me at camp, or whether this was his revenge for throwing that acorn at him. I didn't sense any malicious intentions from him, and I was pretty good at reading people, but still…

I was seriously regretting trying to save Noelle's butt. Maybe I should have just let them duke it out. We would have lost the game of Capture the Flag anyways.

I sighed. I was too nice. And here they thought that I was some evil creature of the night.

"Look, as the boys who've basically watched Lana grow up, we can vouch for her." Travis said. "She's _not_ harmful, and she's not going to kill us."

"Unless you dye her hair red." Connor interrupted quickly. "So don't dye her hair guys."

Chiron nodded. "All in favor of those who think Lana should be exiled from camp, please raise your hands." Clarisse, Drew, and a few others raised their heads. "Now, all in favor of her staying."

I didn't see who raised their hands, but all I knew was that more people wanted me to stay than leave. Chiron nodded. "So it is settled. Miss Vega will be allowed to stay at camp."

I let out a breath of relief. That was one less thing I had to worry about.

"Now, onto the second matter of business: where shall Lana stay? There is no cabin for Hyperion, and because he is not a god, we will not be building one."

I waited for one of the Stolls to speak up, to offer for me to stay at the Hermes cabin (because they would. Right?), but neither of the two uttered a sound, even though they were "vouching for me". For the first time since I've met them, they looked almost… uncomfortable, eye averted and desperately trying not to catch my eye. They didn't even look half this nervous when Sherman and Mark of the Ares cabin had stolen their clothes when they were showering, and the Stolls had to parade around camp in their undies.

I couldn't believe it. They were part of my family, the boys I had grown up with. We had shared pranks, and happy memories, and punches (or more like _I_ shared punches), and they were just going to desert me in my time of need?

_Just like them_, a voice hissed in the back of my mind. _Just. Like. Them._

* * *

_**"We**__ can't let her stay here, Alyce," a familiar voice pleaded from the only lit room in the house, the kitchen. "She's a danger to our family!"_

_There I was, crouched behind the wooden stair railings, hidden in the shadows while eavesdropping on my aunt and uncle. I had gotten up at the middle of the night for a glass of water after tossing and turning and finally giving up on sleep. The first stage of Plan Get-Some-Water (I was five, okay?) was to make it out of the bedroom without being eaten by the terrifying monster of the dark, which had gone smoothly. The second was to get to the end of the corridor without being eaten by the monsters, and even though I was safe from the literal monsters, I was not-so-safe from the figurative monsters. Fear. Betrayal._

_Stage Two of GSW was going not so smoothly._

_"I can't just send her away! I—I promised her! I promised Lacey!" This came from my no nonsense Aunt Alyce, who always seemed scary and powerful in her lab coats (she was a doctor, one of the only three that our small town offered). Yet that night, in the spacious room that was our kitchen, Alyce Brown nee Vega sounded as if she was on the brink of tears._

_At the sound of my late mother's name, I had stiffened when I finally realized what they were talking about. I might have been five, horrible at creative names and the only one at childcare who couldn't tie her shoes, but I was smart, not to toot my own horn. A quick process of elimination told me who they were talking about; it couldn't have been either of the conversing adults, nor could it had been the darling daughter, or the deceased older sister. So who did that leave?_

_The vulnerable, recently orphaned niece._

_"I know," Uncle Charlie continued in a soothing voice. "I know that you promised Lacey that you would take care of her daughter, but do you really want to raise Lana in a place where _he_ could attack her at anytime?"_

_A sob sounded through the house. "No! I—I saw, Charlie! I saw it in one of my visions. It's Lana, not Lacey. We—we have to protect her, protect her from _him_!"_

_"And we can only do that if we send her to camp."_

_There had been a pregnant silence afterwards, the only sound coming from my crying aunt. "Fine," she finally said. "I'll take her there tomorrow."_

* * *

**And **she had taken me to camp, on the day of my sixth birthday.

At first, everything was normal: Uncle Charlie had presented me with my Birthday Breakfast, a meal consisting of chocolate chip waffles, bacon in the shape of a smiley face, and a glass of chocolate milk with condensation beading the mug. They (Uncle Charlie and my cousin Leila) had sang the birthday song to me, while Aunt Alyce examined her manicured hands, not wanting to be caught dead singing "Happy Birthday to You!"

By the end of breakfast, I had started to think that the night before was a dream; Uncle Charlie and Aunt Alyce wouldn't send me away, not right after my mother's death. They loved me, and I didn't need to be protected from a mysterious "him". I wasn't whatever Alyce was talking about, and maybe Mom was, despite Alyce's so-called "visions".

But the moment Alyce told me to get in the car, I knew that I was wrong.

She had driven me all the way across the country to New York, only stopping for potty breaks and gas. Aunt Alyce, who never missed a day of work because one of the three doctors had a mysterious disease that made her take more sick days than there were days in a year and the other was in a coma, was skipping who-knows-how-many-days to drive me to a place I had never been before, and didn't want to go to.

And I doubted that this was just some surprise birthday roadtrip.

It was a trip that was supposed to take a few days at least, a few weeks at most, but with Aunt Alyce's breaking of numerous driving laws, we managed to get there by the end of the day. She had taken me to Camp Half-Blood, introduced me to Chiron, and they stuck me in Cabin Eleven before I could snap out of my daze at seeing a horse-man.

That had been the worst night of my life. No, not the buzzer the Stolls had shocked me with when I shook their hands, nor when they stole my sneakers and made me play a game of Hide-and-Seek around the camp for them.

It was the night before I arrived at camp, when I had learned that I had a family that didn't care about me, that I finally questioned my place in this world. It was the night that I had truly felt alone.

And now, here they were, reenacting it. A group of people I had known for most of my life, who were judging me by my "evil" father, even though I had been nothing but kind to them.

It would have been better if they had kicked me out of camp. It would have been better if they had just dubbed me an evil pink eyeliner thief and made me the camp pariah. But to make me feel insecure like this all over again? _That_ was just cruelty.

"She could stay with us." Someone finally spoke up. I turned to see who my saviour was: it was Will Solace. "I mean, Hyperion is the Titan of Light, and Apollo is the god of light, so we're the closest to him, right? Plus, if the need arises, we can just pretend that Lana _is_ the daughter of Apollo, as to not scare the younger campers or something."

Chiron nodded. "That is a good idea. What do you think Lana?"

I glanced at the Stolls, hoping that they would speak up for me. But they just sat there, concentrating on imaginary stains on the carpet. I half-expected them to stick their hands in their pockets and start whistling. When I realized that they weren't going to do anything except appreciate the decor of the Rec Room, I sighed. "Fine. Whatever."

* * *

**"Hi!" **the words spilled out of the mouth of a perky-looking demigod from the Apollo cabin. I recognized her as the girl with the guitar from Tuesday, the one who drove herself to tears over a song. "I'm Kayla and welcome to Cabin Seven! You're so lucky, 'cause this is the best cabin in camp!"

Funny. Luke Castellan, who had been counselor of the Hermes cabin then, had said the same thing about Cabin Eleven. I wondered if these people went to some sort of a "How To Make Campers Think Your Cabin is the Best" workshop or something.

"Hey. I'm Lana."

She nodded, and then said in a low whisper, "You're the 'Titan's spawn', right?"

I stiffened and looked to Will for help, and he let out a forced bark of laughter. "Don't be silly, Kay. Lana's one of us."

"Oh." She pouted, looking sad. "Darn. I've always wanted to meet a half-Titan. Oh well! Nice meeting you!" She smiled and flounced away.

Will nodded to me. "Find yourself an empty bunk bed and you can catch some sleep. I'm sure you've had a long day."

_Oh you have no idea_, I thought as I walked away from him.

"You." A cold voice stopped me in my track. I turned around to see a dark-haired girl with her arms crossed, glaring at me. "You're the girl that hit me over the head with a sword."

"Um, I am?" And then I realized that I was. Quickly, glancing around the cabin out of the corner of my eyes, I saw that this girl was the only black-haired child of Apollo. All the others had fair hair, which meant that this must have been the person I knocked down during Capture the Flag. I grimaced; the one person I manage to knock down and it happens to be my future cabin-mate. The Fates hate me. "Oh, I am. Sorry."

"You don't belong here, daughter of Hyperion." She continued, her voice sounding unnaturally loud to my ears. I glanced around again, and to my relief, no one seemed to have heard. "This is a camp for demigods, which you are not."

I didn't know how she could have found out who my father was, but I decided to do what Will would have done: play it cool and deny everything. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm one of you, and nothing else." I said, using Will's words.

She sneered. "Sure. Sure you are. But unfortunately for you, Titan girl, some of us have _brains_." She waited for her words to set in before turning away.

I threw my bag on the first bed I saw, seething silently. This was so unfair! What had I ever done to deserve this? Was I a murderer in a past life? I yanked the backpack open, nearly tearing off the zipper.

"Um, you don't belong here."

Oh great, another one. I straightened up to find Kayla standing next to me. She was staring at me, blue eyes to gold, and I couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness. Even Kayla, who had welcome me to Cabin Eleven with a bright smile and a cheerful demeanor, thought that I didn't belong here? Did _anybody_ think that I belonged?

"Why?" I demanded. "Why do you think that I don't belong here, when I've been here for seven years, know every myth there is to know, and recognize almost every face? _Why don't I belong here?_"

Kayla blinked, looking confused. "Uh, you don't belong here because that," she pointed to the bed underneath my backpack. "Is my bed. The one above it is free though!"

* * *

_**After** the long day, all I wanted to do was sink into a happy dream filled with rainbows and pegasi and chocolate. But no; I found myself in a magnificent room of gold and white marble. The first thing that caught my eyes were the thrones, about two or three times my height and each uniquely different: there was the golden one with a teenage boy sitting on it that looked as if it was made out of the same material as the Apollo cabin. There was the one made completely out of grapevines, woven tightly together with no one sitting on it._

_I gulped. Did I dream myself into an Olympus meeting?_

_"Don't flatter yourself, Titan's spawn," spat the grey-eyed goddess Athena, who looked at me as if I was something she had found on the bottom of her shoe. "To dream yourself into a meeting without our consent?" she snorted._

_"Now, that's enough Athena." My head turned to the biggest throne in the room and the man sitting on it. Zeus, Lord of the skies and King of the Gods. "We all know why we are gathered here tonight," he boomed, only addressing the other gods in the room. "We are here to discuss the fate of the demititan in front of us, Elana Helen Vega."_

_Idle chatter immediately died down as twenty-four pairs of eyes turned to me. I tilted my chin up and resisted the urge to shudder. _

_"I think we should kill her." This came from Ares, who seemed to share the same thought process as his daughter: "She'd be be a nuisance, and if we do, we'd just be putting her out of her misery." He eyed me silently before nodding. "She'd die the moment she stepped out of that camp. She's no fighting material."_

_"What's the point of ending a life just because she can't fight?" Aphrodite asked, her red lips pouting. "Fighting isn't the most important thing in the world, plus she could always learn."_

_"Of course, babe." Ares agreed quickly, looking away when Hephaestus shot a dirty look at him._

_"But that doesn't mean that we should keep her around our children," Aphrodite continued, her multi-colored eyes thoughtful. "Just because she doesn't look like much, that doesn't mean that she can't secretly be a spy for the Titans or something."_

_"Thinking about your daughter, Aphrodite?" Hephaestus sneered at the love goddess, who looked appalled at her husband. "I, on the other hand, think that we should keep the girl. It would be stupid to kick her out of her home." He said, watching his mother, who squirmed in her peacock-feathered throne. _

_I probably would have felt more gratitude towards Hephaestus had I not known that he was just trying to antagonize Ares and Aphrodite._

_"I, for one, vote to let her stay at camp." Artemis said from atop her silver throne. "I will not let a young maiden be thrown out of sanctuary, even if said girl is the daughter of a Titan."_

_"We should let her stay—"_

_"Kill her, she might be dangerous—"_

_"Don't _kill_ her, just exile her—"_

_"Who wants cereal?" The last part came from Demeter, who held a white bowl of what I assumed to be cereal in her hands._

_There was an awkward silence before Hermes said, "I don't think—I mean, now's not the—None of us want cereal. Thank you though."_

_"Oh well." Demeter shrugged. "More cereal for me."_

_"Let's have a vote," Athena suggested. "All in favor of the girl staying—"_

_"Wait!" The doors to the Throne Room opened with a loud _bang!_ and Rachel Dare stood at the doorway, her flaming red hair flying around her. "You can't kill her! You have to let her stay!"_

_"Rachel?" The teenage boy on the gold throne sat up, lowering his sunglasses. "What are you doing here?"_

_"Sorry for the interruption Lord Apollo, Lord Zeus," She swept into the room, bowing to the gods. "But I just had a vision involving Lana. And the missing Muses."_

_Apollo sat up even straighter, eyes widening. "You saw my—I mean, the Muses?"_

_Rachel nodded gravelly. "The missing Muses have been taken to a place that the gods cannot find. The only way to save them is to send Lana," she inclined her head towards me. "On the quest to save the missing Muses."_

_"Me?" I spoke for the first time, my voice almost lost in the humongous room. "Send me on a quest?"_

_Rachel nodded. "The Muses are in another god's territory, and it would break the Ancient Laws if you were to retrieve them yourself, milord." She said to Apollo, who had opened his mouth. "The only ones that can go are the heroes who are free from the bounds of the Laws. And Lana is one of such heroes."_

_At this, Ares guffawed loudly. "Her? The runt? A _hero_? Please." He scoffed. "You'd have _much_ better luck if you sent my daughter Clarisse on the quest. Now that girl? A _real_ hero. Not the weakling standing in front of us."_

_"Clarisse? Please. That girl wouldn't tell the difference between oat and wheat if she spent the rest of her life studying a cookbook! Send _Katie_," Demeter said to Rachel. "What Katie lacks in fighting, she makes up in gardening! Ooh, and cooking! Have you tasted her cremee brulee? It's _heavenly_!"_

_The gods began bickering about who should be sent on the quest, each naming their own children. The only gods that didn't enter the argument were Artemis (because she didn't have any children to send) and Apollo, who looked uncharacteristically down._

_Rachel opened and closed her mouth several times, trying to cut into the fight, but the gods kept yelling and shouting until it just became a giant cacophony of noise. _

_"QUIET!" screamed Apollo, shattering my ears. None of the gods made a single peep, and all turned to him. "If Rachel thinks that Lana is to go on the quest, then Lana will be the one to go on the quest. She may be a daughter of our greatest enemies, but I trust her more than I could trust any of _your_ children. Now Lana," he spoke to me, blue eyes staring into mine gravelly. "Don't let me down."_


	6. Chapter 5:IceEyed Apollo Girl

**Hi guys! I'd like to remind you that this was written on my grandpa's computer, and his Word doesn't have spell-check so if you see any mistakes, let me know! I'd also like to thank my amazing friend Leianne Rodriguez for her awesome-rific prophecy that you will see if you scroll down and read the story. So... enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympics. I only own Lana, Noelle, Cassandra, and Casper Wyoming (who, if all things go according to plan, will have a bigger role in the story than the scrawny little boy who Lana punched).**

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**Chapter 5: Ice-Eyed Apollo Girl**

**I **had no idea where home was. I had no idea who family was. But I figured that the closest thing I had to it was Cabin Eleven and Noelle Knox.

We were supposed to be at our activities (me at archery and Noelle at foot-races), but Noelle had told me, while dragging me to my former cabin, that the rules technically didn't apply to me anymore since they were for demigods, and I wasn't exactly a demigod. And Noelle had decided to excuse herself from her activities because we needed "catch-up time" due to everything that had happened these few days.

I sat on Noelle's bed (which was directly under my ex-bed, now stripped of its blue sheets and cover) and I couldn't seem to keep my mouth shut. Everything poured out of me like a giant tidal wave of words. I told her about both dreams, about the dark-haired Apollo girl that knew about my parentage, which led to the topic of my parentage.

"I'm a daughter of Hyperion," I admitted. Saying it out loud made it feel so much more real, as if before saying it, I was just some innocent little girl that Hyperion was picking on, and after saying it, I was actually the evil demititan that everybody made me to be.

Noelle blinked, before a grin broke out on her face. "Really? That's so cool!"

I felt like face-palming. "No Noelle, it's not 'so cool'! Have you not been listening to me? Did you not hear the parts where people are scared of me, where people hate me?"

Noelle looked down, tracing an invisible pattern on her light-gray cover. "Yeah," she said in a soft voice. "But at least you're claimed."

All the anger and frustration that I had been feeling, drained. With my being claimed, Noelle was left the only unclaimed demigod at camp, and that didn't escape the notices of the campers. It was nothing to get your panties in a twist about (at least, that was what I thought), but some of the meaner kids had started rumors about how Noelle's godly parent didn't want her because she was weak, because she was stupid, etc. It didn't hold a candle near what they were saying about me, but I could see how it could hurt someone, especially Noelle.

"You're right," I said in a playful tone. "I'm so thankful that my father happens to be the Titan of light, and that everybody hates me. But at least I'm claimed!"

Noelle rolled her eyes, throwing her pillow at me. I allowed it to hit me (not because I forgot to dodge, but because I let it hit me), before we both fell on the bed, laughing.

"Don't you wish we could go back?" Noelle asked, staring at the wooden ceiling of the Hermes' cabin. "Go back to before being claimed, before the dreams, when we were just two normal girls?"

"Two normal girls that went to a camp where Ancient Greek and How to Kill a Monster 101 were required classes," I added, and Noelle swatted at me.

"Oh my gods, do you remember Casper?"

I grimaced. She was referring to Casper Wyoming, another fellow camper that had disappeared sometime during the war. He must have died somewhere along the way, or went to Kronos' side. I didn't know which fate was worse.

Anyways, Casper had this crush on me. No, scratch that, it was more like an… infatuation. Obsession. It was seriously creepy.

Casper had been nine or ten when he first came to camp, and he was this pretty little boy, too girlish to be called handsome or cute. He had dark long lashes and high cheekbones that made him the envy of many girls, not to mention he couldn't fight for his life. Heck, he made _me_ look like Heracle, and that was a very hard thing to do.

Pretty and weak as he was, he became the target of many nasty kids—until yours truly suddenly started sticking up for him because she felt bad for him. Not that said nasty kids stopped teasing him because of me (in fact, I think I might have made it worse), but Casper was glad to have a "friend". Because I had helped him a few times, Casper started following me like a lost puppy.

A really pretty, really annoying, kind of stalker-ish lost puppy.

But all that ended when I punched him in the nose in the arena.

Nobody else knew about this, except for Noelle, who saw the bit of Casper's blood on my hand and forced me to explain. To my astonishment, Casper didn't snitch to Chiron like I thought he would, so I never got in trouble for punching him.

But then again, I guess telling the immortal trainer of heroes that a girl broke his nose wasn't high on Casper's to-do list.

Like I said, Casper disappeared after the Second Titan War, and I completely forgot about him—until now.

"Thanks for reminding me." I scowled at her just as Connor and Travis ran into the cabin.

"Lana!" Connor yelled, skidding to a stop in front of us. "Lana, we were looking for you everywhere!" he exclaimed.

"They wanted to see you in the Rec Room." Travis added.

I groaned. Were they seriously going to make a Meeting About Lana's Parentage Take Two? I thought we had sorted everything out already!

I held my head up high as the two sons of Hermes led me to my impending doom. When we arrived, things were… chaotic. A high-heeled shoe sailed over my head, followed by a steaming cup of hot chocolate, and I had to duck as to not get hit. But when I entered the room, everybody froze. "Lana!" Rachel looked as if we were long-lost best friends, even though we had only met once, for less than twenty minutes. "Sit here!" She pointed to the empty seat next to her, which I quickly sat down in.

Chiron's eyes darkened at my appearance, but he ignored me, turning to Will instead. "Now that everybody is here, Mr. Solace, would you like to start the meeting?"

Will looked puzzled and upset, his mouth set into a thin line. He nodded before talking: "Yesterday, my father sent me a dream. He told me… he told me that some of the nine muses are missing." Will stopped, gauging our reactions, but the most he got was a sniffle from Lou Ellen, daughter of Hecate, who I'm pretty sure was sick. He looked disappointed at the lack of shock, but he continued. "Now, I know that you think that the muses aren't important—"

"'Aren't important'?" Clarisse rolled her eyes. "As if. They're completely useless!"

Will went red with rage. The Apollo cabin had never really gotten along with the Ares cabin after the Great Chariot Fiasco of last year, and Will looked like he was ready to tackle Clarisse to the ground.

But with my luck (or lack thereof), Rachel cut into their argument, looking at me. "Lana, I was thinking, and maybe the name you heard in your dream was 'Melpomene'? You know, the muse of tragedy?"

I did know. And I had wondered the same thing before deciding that if the muses wanted someone to save them, they'd pick Percy or Annabeth, both powerful demigods with quest experience.

That train of thought always led to this: I was a powerful demititan too, wasn't I? I wasn't too familiar with the Titans, but Hyperion was the third or fourth strongest, I'm pretty sure. Maybe I had some powers too; maybe I couldn't control water or go invisible, but I had to have _something_, right?

But then I would stop and think about how absurd that sounded (I could hardly fight with a sword, and archery was completely out of the question), and here I was, comparing myself to the Savior of Olympus? Thinking that I had powers that would rival the strongest demigod's?

When I thought those thoughts, it would always end up with me shaking my head at my useless wishing.

"… And the dream ended with the dark-haired woman saying, 'Good' twice." Rachel finished.

I blinked slowly. "Excuse me?"

"Your dream. That's how it went, right?"

I realized that while I was thinking, Rachel must have relayed what happened in my dream to the rest of the campers. And now everybody knew that I was the first camper to know that the muses were missing. I bit my lip. Were they going to accuse me of wanting the muses to be kidnapped? Were they going to send me on a quest?

But all I said was "Yeah."

"So the muses have been kidnapped," Will spoke in a breathless voice. "We have to find them!"

Katie Gardner didn't seem to agree. "Look Will, I know that it's upsetting that they've been kidnapped," she started. "But the muses are only goddesses of inspiration. It's not going to be the end of the world if they're gone, and we don't have to issue a quest to find them; there are more important things in the world to worry about, aren't there?"

Will narrowed his eyes at the daughter of Demeter. "Your mother sent the world into famine when her daughter disappeared, and Persephone's only a goddess of springtime."

The room threw itself into argument once more (was this all they did during their "meetings"?) , but it was cut short when Rachel stood up quickly, her chair knocked back onto the floor.

Her eyes were glowing dangerously.

Will was the first one to speak, demanding "How do we find the kidnapped muses?"

"Of light, death, and sun make three

Seek inspiration lost, and dangerously free.

Following a guide in a dreamy state,

But none shall escape a painful fate."

When she finished speaking her prophecy, Rachel collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut off, falling to the ground. Nobody bothered to pick her up, or help her into a chair; they were too busy trying to figure out the new prophecy.

"'Of light, death, and sun make three'," Percy repeated. "The last two would mean a child of Hades and a child of Apollo, death and sun. But Apollo is the god of light too, so does that mean two children of Apollo?" He looked to his girlfriend.

"Lana," Annabeth said almost immediately. "Hyperion is the Titan of light, so if I were to guess, I'd say that Lana is the one going on this quest."

"It makes sense too," Nico nodded. "The muses go missing, Lana gets weird dreams about them, then she gets claimed…" he trailed off, nodding again.

"So it's settled?" Chiron asked. "Lana is going on the quest?"

"Yes."

"'Death' would obviously be Hades, and Nico is the only son of—"

"I'll go." Nico said without letting Annabeth finish.

"And 'sun' would mean Apollo." Percy continued

"I'll go on the quest." Will spoke up. "I promised my father that I'd find the muses. Plus, someone has to watch over Lana and make sure she doesn't get herself killed. Have you _seen_ her archery skills?"

Chiron nodded. "It is settled. Will, Nico, and Lana are to go on this quest. They will leave tomorrow."

"But Lana needs training!" Connor protested. My eyes widened, and I hoped that Connor had telepathic abilities, so that he'd hear the all mental "SHUT UP CONNOR STOLL!"s I was sending him.

But alas, this was not the case, as Connor foolishly continued. "Lana can't use a sword, or a bow, and she doesn't have her own weapon. If she went on this quest, she'd be walking to her death!"

I wanted to bang my head against the wall, but the look I received from Chiron stopped me.

"As her counselors," Chiron began, his frustration barely contained. "It was your job to make sure that she was adequately trained with her weapons."

The idiot had the nerve to look bashful. "Yeah, well we never thought that Lana would get claimed and go on a quest!"

"It's fine," Will cut in. "We can quickly train Lana all day tomorrow and leave the day after. That works, right?"

Nods went around the room.

"Doesn't anybody want to ask me about _my_ opinion on all this?" I crossed my arms. "Whether I want to go on this quest? Whether or not I want training? Don't _I_ get a say in this?"

"Of course not." Will smiled apologitically. "Once the prophecy speaks, you cannot go against it." He shrugged. "Sorry Lana, but the prophecy chose you. You can't do anything about it."

* * *

**Even **ifI was furious about going on the quest, I guessed that it would be okay with Will and Nico. Will was easy-going and cheerful, and he was one of the few people that didn't hate or fear me for being a daughter of Hyperion. Plus, he was a talented archer, not to mention the best healer in Camp Half-Blood, and I figured that with my level of expertise in fighting, we were seriously going to need a healer. Nico, I didn't know too much about, but as long as he didn't try to kill me for hitting him with an acorn, he would stay on my good side.

Plus, even if they were going to be useless, they _were_ both nice to look at.

I had just convinced myself that being alone for gods-know-how-long with two balls of testosterone, travelling in a world that I hadn't seen in seven years wasn't going to be _too_ bad when Kayla burst in.

"Ohmigods, Lana, did you hear?" Her wide eye gleamed with unshed tears. "It's Will! He's in the infirmary!"

I immediately jumped up and ran after her to the infirmary. The rest of the cabin was already there, either crowding around Will's bed or being held back by other campers as they snarled at the Stolls, who cowered in a corner. Nico was there too, speaking in a hushed voice with the injured Will.

"What happened?" I asked Travis and Connor, who both looked uncharacteristically guilty.

Travis took a deep breath in. "Remember that night during Capture the Flag when Will took our flag?"

I nodded. "Yeah, he 'compromised your pride'."

"Well, we had to get back at him somehow! So we asked around until a little birdie told us that Will was allergic to bad music."

"And then we got this." Travis held up a stereo and pressed "play". A scratchy and out-of-tune singer was jamming out in what sounded like the shower. All of the Apollo kids covered their ears, cries of dismay coming out of their mouths. One even went as far as fainting.

I cringed. "What is that?"

"Percy singing in the shower." Connor snickered, before quickly sobering. "We didn't know that he would have such a reaction to it! We thought that it would probably just scar him for the rest of his life, not hospitalize him!"

I rolled my eyes. "Will he be okay?"

Travis shook his head. "Chiron said that Will has to stay in bed for a week. At _least_."

"But what about the quest? We leave the day after tomorrow!"

Nico, who seemed to have overheard our conversation, came to stand next to me. "We'll have to get a replacement. Will suggested Cassandra Bishop."

"Who's Cassandra Bishop?"

At having heard her name, the icy-blue-eyed, dark-haired daughter of Apollo turned to me. My stomach turned when she smiled maliciously and said, "Hi quest mate."


	7. Chapter 6: Crimson Blood

**Hola my faithful readers! I know that you probably want to throw rotten tomatoes and things that will hurt if hit with at me, but I have a very cliche excuse ready. Are you ready for it? It starts with h, ends with k, and rhymes with "omework". It's... the Hush, Hush saga! Actually, it's a combo of reasons. Homework, Patch, and writer's block were all reasons why this chapter is extremely late. I'm so sorry, but it's here now, thanks to all the people that favorited and reviewed. Thank you, and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson. I only own Lana, Noelle, and Cass.**

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**Chapter 6: Crimson Blood**

**Nico's **last words to me were: "We start training tomorrow morning!", delivered with a brief wave as he ran back to the safety of his cabin.

He really wasn't kidding when he said "tomorrow morning".

"It's time to wake up, Lana!" a voice screamed happily into my left ear.

"Yeah, we'd hate for you to miss training!" another yelled into my right.

I recognized the two voices as the Stoll's (also known as my human alarm clocks), but my sleepy brain wondered what they were doing in the Apollo cabin.

And what were they talking about, "training"?

"Go away," I muttered, slapping my pillow over my head in an attempt to block out their annoying voices.

It didn't work. One of the alarm clocks sighed. "We'll give her three seconds before the big guns, 'kay Fish Boy?"

"Fish Boy" smacked Alarm Clock #1, who yelped. "Ouch, I was just kidding! That hurt a lot!"

Alarm Clock #2 sighed. "Idiot," he mumbled under his breath, before raising his voice. "Three seconds start now, Lana. Three, two, one…"

In the past, the Alarm Clocks had used this trick a lot on me.

In the past though, the ACs didn't have "Fish Boy" with them.

As soon as AC #2 got to one, a giant tsunami wave of ice-cold water splashed onto me.

And to rub salt on my wound (pun intended), it was 100 percent complete saltwater. Do you know how much it hurts when saltwater gets up your nose?

Well, I do now.

I shot up, shivering lightly from the temperature of the water, and glared at the three out of four boys who were laughing their heads off. Nico stood to the side, fighting a smile, but he wasn't outright laughing.

_Good for him_, I thought with a huff. We'll see who's laughing when the offenders get a hard kick to the family jewels.

"C'mon Lana!" Connor jumped up and down, looking like a kid in the candy shop. I hoped that nobody made the mistake of giving him coffee. "Let's go!"

They basically dragged me to the arena.

Annabeth and Clarisse were already there, along with Noelle. My damp moods (get it? I was completely wet? Damp moods?) lifted at the sight of my best friend, but nothing could outright cheer me up from—bleh—training.

Except for chocolate maybe. Chocolate was miraculous, so maybe it could cheer me up.

At my entrance, the three girls looked up. I realized that they were looking at a row of different weapons, only half of them recognizable.

Weapons. Actual weapons that can actually hurt your opponent (or yourself, in my case). Actual, sharp weapons that they wanted me to _use_?

Anybody with a working mind knew that Lana plus weapons equals absolute catastrophe.

I longed for my practice sword (which was probably still lost somewhere in the forest). It was made for getting stances correct, not for actual bloodshed, and if I accidently hit myself, I wouldn't impale my hand or something.

The swords on the ground could probably impale a thousand Lana-hands.

Oh great. There was no way that I could survive the day without numerous injuries. And my sore butt had just gotten better too!

A shrill shriek sounded, making me start. It was Clarisse, who blew a whistle she had around her neck. "Al-RIGHT! Training 101 starts now! Today will be full of pain, sweat, blood, and hard work. If you are too sissy for it, then Knitting for Losers is right next door."

"Oops," I laughed nervously. "Wrong class."

I was about to make a break for it, but the Stolls caught me before I could take a step.

"Don't be scared Lana. You can do it." Travis nodded, looking more serious than I had ever seen him.

"Plus, KFL isn't on Mondays. Not that I've ever been there." Connor added the last part hastily.

I sighed. "All right. But if I die, you guys aren't going to be on my will."

* * *

**Change **is inevitable. Life goes on. People grow old.

But one fact that will never change is the fact that I will never let Clarisse train me ever again.

An hour into the class and I was ready to throw myself to my knees and beg for mercy.

"One… one more break." I panted, staying on the ground after Clarisse had once again managed to knock me down. My butt had gone numb again, my arms ached, and I couldn't stand up without my legs shaking

Clarisse rolled her eyes, dismissing my request. "No more breaks. I've already given you at least twenty break, and it's only been a few minutes."

"It's been an hour and you only gave me eight breaks!"

"Let her have a break Clarisse," a new voice said from the entrance. "It's pitiful seeing her like this."

My hair bristled, and I turned around, ready to give a snappy reply. It was Cassandra (who else?), who had just came in the Arena, something shiny swinging from her hand.

"You were supposed to be here twenty minutes ago." Nico accused before I could say something I would probably regret.

Cassandra crinkled her nose, glancing at Nico. "I don't want to spend any more time than I have to with _her_." She tossed her head in my direction. "She lowers my IQ."

"You know, Cassandra, sometimes I think that you were an old bag lady with ninety cats that yelled at kids to get off of your lawn in a past life."

Cassandra glared at me, but without a good comeback, simply muttered a "Whatever. The only reason that I'm here is because Chiron wanted me to give you this. He said that it'll help you on our quest." She threw something at me, but without the use of my arms, it hit me in the forehead. Nico's lips lifted into a smile, and he mouthed "Karma" at me.

I narrowed my eyes and drew a finger across my neck before looking to what Cassandra threw. It was a golden charm bracelet, gleaming even though it had obviously had another owner. A single crimson charm was attached, winking at me.

I scooped it up, pain lancing up my arm. The charm bracelet felt warm in my hand, and the pain that had came from moving my sore arm melted. "What is it for?" I murmured, intrigued with the piece of jewelry.

"Chiron told me to tell you to rub the charm."

I did as I was told, and I was nearly blinded by a bright light. I threw my healed arms up to shield my face. When the light died down, I looked in my hand, where a dagger about the size of my forearm appeared. It stared back at me, pulsing with light from within.

The blade was bronze, the hilt golden. I had seen this dagger before, hadn't I? My memory stirred, and I nearly dropped the weapon when I realized why it was so familiar.

Involuntarily, I glanced up at Nico.

"Cool!" Noelle's eyes lit up despite the somber mood around us. "I want a dagger like that!"

No. No she didn't.

I squeezed the hilt, feeling the dagger respond with every little movement. Clarisse had informed me earlier that the weapon I was looking for had to be light, because I was too weak to hold a heavy weapon. This was the perfect weapon for me.

But I didn't want it.

"Lana?" Nico asked in a soft voice. "Are you okay? You look pale."

"Yes," I responded quickly—too quickly. "I'm fine. Really." I added at his dubious expression.

This dagger. It was the same one that I held in the dream. It was the last puzzle piece of a frustrating mystery. If I had my Mystery Boy facing me with a concerned look on his face, and the murder weapon, staring back innocently in the form of a charm bracelet, did that mean that the dream was going to play itself out?

Was I going to kill Nico di Angelo?


End file.
